120 Bits of Fiction
by graphiteheart
Summary: A challenge. 120 drabbles, more or less close to 100 words. Lots of variety, different characters and genres. Slash/Femslash pairings featured.
1. Hold My Hand

Challenge word: **Hold My Hand**

Genre: Angst

Characters: Sherlock and Mycroft

* * *

Sherlock was shaking.

His forehead was hot and damp with perspiration. The small body was fighting the fever with all force it could muster.

One touch.

The whisper of a rapid pulse echoed beneath the skin.

Cold_._

His hands were _cold._

Suddenly Sherlock scrunched up his small nose, huffed with disdain and turned around to face the wall, still asleep.

Startled, 16-year-old Mycroft let his hand float in the air where his brother's small palm had been seconds ago, then put it down slowly. After a moment of composing himself, he straightened.

_No._

_Caring is not an advantage, after all._


	2. Djinn

Challenge word: **Djinn**

Genre: Angst/Fantasy

Characters: Molly Hooper

Pairings: Sherlock/Molly, one-sided

* * *

When she was 9 years old, a girl called Molly Hooper was found by a golden lamp.

(Usually, it's people who find things – in this case she was sure it had happened this way round.)

The man from the lamp (for it was a magical one) gave her three wishes.

"I want my friend's mummy to get better" was her first wish and the Djinn smiled.

"A dog" was her wish at 14. He nodded.

"I want Sherlock to love me" she whispered at 32.

The Djinn looked solemn.

"Is he worth it if you need to wish for him?"


	3. Dreams

Challenge word:** Dreams**

Genre: General/slight Romance

Characters: Greg and Mycroft

Pairings: Mycroft/Greg, pre-slash. Or well - that's in the eye of the beholder, I guess.

* * *

Greg's dreams are usually strange. They also never involve humans.

People from his life make appearances, of course. For example, since their first meeting, Sherlock has consistently maintained the symbol of an annoying blue cat which bears a certain resemblance to a Picasso painting.

Occasionally it's weirder than that.

Yet – as already said – they're never human.

So when after meeting Mycroft Holmes for the first time, a man with an umbrella starts paying visits to his dreams, Greg isn't sure if it's a good thing or not.

However, he is very keen on finding out.


	4. Never Cry

Challenge word: **Never Cry**

Genre: Angst/Drama/Tragedy

Characters: Jim Moriarty

Warnings: Minor Character Death (canon)

* * *

"Never cry" Jim thought as his belongings shattered on the floor.

He did, his traitorous eyes welling up.

"Never cry" Jim repeated, picking up the pieces of his art project.

He failed, and the salty water drew wet lines on his face.

"One day, they will cry", Jim thought, swallowing back tears.

The day Carl died, tears filled up Jim's world. Even the sky wept. The raindrops, stained with petrol and the dirty English air, hit black umbrellas and turned the ground into mud.

Everybody cried…

except for Jim, who would never cry again.


	5. Suicide

**Trigger Warning: mentions of suicide**

* * *

Challenge word: **Suicide**

Genre: Angst

Characters: Mycroft and Sherlock

* * *

_Suicide. The intentional taking of one's life._

_Destruction of one's being. Disappearance of an existance._

_It doesn't always have to end with death, doesn't it? Not right away._

_Sometimes being a suicidal person means taking the slow path, prying parts off your soul in an agonizingly tedious journey, until there is nothing left._

The tablecloth is painfully smooth and empty.

Ticking fills the room and somewhere far away, London screams with life. The hum of the ancient city seems to reverberate off their teacups' edges.

Mycroft takes a sip.

He has been avoiding his mother's eyes the whole afternoon, his gaze glued to the vacant space next to her, and he hopes that somewhere, his brother is still alive.


	6. Forest

Challenge word: **Forest**

Genre: Friendship/Romance

Characters: Molly and Anthea

Pairings: Anthea/Molly

* * *

Everybody around Molly vanishes from her sight the second she sees her.

The girl between the trees looks like she belongs there, a fairy queen or a spirit, and like to a fairy queen, Molly loses her heart and soul.

Emma is just human.

They meet after school, cut holes in their jeans, and chew strawberry gum.

Yet, sometimes they lie under the trees, breathing the air moistened by the moss, and Emma seems to be a part of the understory - a study in dark brown and emerald green. Molly finds herself touching her Alabaster skin and wondering how she is real.

She is as mysterious as the forest and even when they leave for London several years later, Emma never quite loses that.


	7. Detached

Challenge word: **Detached**

Genre: Angst/Family

Characters: Sherlock, Mycroft, OC

Warnings: mentions of death

* * *

The blanket hugs him like a cave.

Sherlock has lost sense of time. The silence in his brain is pressing down on his ears.

A creak. The door opens.

He feels the weight of his cousin pressing down the mattress.

"Sherlock, please…come down." She bites her lip. "Everybody is already there."

Rustling. She is wearing her dress. Black, satin, new. Uncomfortable.

Sherlock blinks. His lashes sting.

"Just leave him", Mycroft says from the doorway. His voice is dimmed – like the room, like the house, like everybody's minds.

The door creaks again.

"Get dressed though. You _have_ to go to the funeral, you do know that."

They leave. The silence turns into a high pitched sound.

Sherlock stares at the wall and the wall stares back.


	8. Pawn

Challenge word: **Pawn**

Genre: Angst

Characters: Sebastian and Mycroft

Pairings: Sebastian/Mycroft. Kind of.

* * *

"Sebastian."

He looks up. Mycroft's face is ghastly, skin like paper.

"I'm sorry." The words are quiet. Mycroft repeats them, looking into nowhere.

Sebastian doesn't feel anything. His stomach is hollow.

Again. "I'm sorry."

Mycroft's steps echo in the room. Sebastian grips his rifle as he feels arms around him.

The next words get muffled by his neck and Mycroft actually starts crying, his body shaking with sobs.

Suddenly Sebastian feels like throwing up.

"I should assume position now", he says. His voice is empty.

Mycroft lets him go and nods. "Yes…yes." He doesn't look at him anymore, his eyes fixed on the floor.

Sebastian leaves.

The world is off-kilter and the lips of every passer-by seem to mouth

_Pawn_


	9. City

_Sorry for the long wait, the page wouldn't let me update. Chapters should come regularly now. __Enjoy!_

* * *

Challenge word: **City**

Genre: General/Friendship (Romance, if you choose to see it that way)

Characters: John

Pairings: Could be John/Sherlock - doesn't have to.

* * *

John loves London.

He refrains from long, rhapsodic descriptions usually – having lived in the city for some time, he knows the downsides just as well as the upsides.

Still, this particular geographical space holds a special place in John's heart. He has never been to a similar city.

John loves London for what it is, but even more for what it means:

Being in the centre, at the pulse.

Challenges.

Adventures.

Feeling alive.

And as of late, John may have started loving London a little bit more -

it gave him Sherlock Holmes.


	10. Snow

Challenge word: **Snow**

Genre: Romance

Characters: Mycroft and Greg

Pairings: Mystrade

* * *

"You're not saying anything."

Greg blinks.

"It's just…beautiful."

Snow. Insane amounts of snow.

Greg hears Mycroft chuckle next to him. To be honest, he probably does look a bit weird right now, his face practically pressed against the window of their far too fancy hotel room.

"It's not too different from snow in England", Mycroft says.

He's probably right - but still.

A few people are hurrying across the square, their figures obscured.

Looking closer, Greg can see little white flocks dancing in the air – made up of thousands and thousands of ice crystals.

The snow is like a curtain shielding them from the outside world and once in a while, a curtain is a good thing.


	11. The Fool

Challenge word: **The Fool**

Genre: Romance

Characters: Mycroft and Greg

Pairings: Mystrade

* * *

Chocolates.

A whole box of the fancy latte macchiato chocolates Greg has come to love so much.

Dumbfounded, he looks up from the box, into Mycroft's face and then down to the box again.

"Is there..um..a reason?"

With a slight touch of panic Greg's mind rattles off all possible anniversaries (even the absolutely obscure ones), which could possibly be considered occasions worthy of fancy chocolate boxes.

He is quite sure he didn't forget anything though.

"I-", Mycroft clears his throat and looks at his shoes. "I thought you were…irritated earlier, and I…" he trails off. There's just the tiniest ghost of a blush on his face.

It takes Greg a few seconds. Then he laughs breathily and just the tiniest bit exasperated, and shakes his head.

"God..I mean, thank you, but..", he sighs, "it's fine."

Mycroft doesn't look fully convinced.

Greg shrugs.

"It's okay, really. But we're gonna work on that. Though actually,", he says, stepping back into the house, "if you're going to bring a box like that home every time you're running off to the office on free days to indulge in your workaholic tendencies, I might just come to terms with them."

He winks and coaxes a smile out of Mycroft. It's small and hesitant, but honest.

And so very much _him_.

* * *

S_orry for the two Mystrade posts in a row - I usually try to be a bit more diverse, but this challenge word turned out to be very difficult to make into a story, so I just grasped the first concept that fit._

_It's actually part of a universe with a young Mycroft and a young Greg dating and may turn into something bigger (or just another Drabble collection. Shrug.)._

_Speaking of Drabbles - it went a bit out of hand with that one. Well, consider it a compensation for my erratic updates._


	12. Puzzle

Challenge word: **Puzzle**

Genre: Friendship/Romance

Characters: Anderson and Sally Donovan

Pairings: Anderson/Sally

Teenverse, in a contemporary setting.

* * *

She likes hair-bands, PE and the sun. Her room is the colour of the ocean.

She wants a nostril piercing and a guitar, and her arm is the only place she ever doodles on.

She can't dance and sometimes, she's mean.

Sally is a puzzle.

The pieces come one by one and Jason treasures them - until one day, they fit.

And then suddenly, her friends are his, too, and it gets a bit barmy at times because they're all young, and different, and just a little bit careless.

But it's okay because somehow, Jason is in love with her.

And somehow, she loves him too.

* * *

_Probably not a popular pairing, I know._

_It's another "pilot" for another verse of mine. Anderson and Sally aren't the main pairing there, but I felt like exploring a bit._


	13. Annex

Challenge word: **Annex**

Genre: Suspense/mild Horror

Characters: Mycroft

Warnings: slight gore

Teenverse

* * *

It is perfectly ridiculous. Mycroft can't help but feel angry as he rummages through another box.

The pictures are here, somewhere. Sherlock knows, but when asked to help he pursed his lips and gave one curt headshake.

_Pling-pling. Pling._

The annex is _crammed_ with boxes!

Thick layers of dust cover every surface. Dust fills the air, together with a peculiar smell. He tries not to breathe in too deeply.

_Pling-pling. Pling._

It had started to rain. Angrily, Mycroft rips open another box.

A cloud of dust rises into his face and he cascades into a coughing fit.

_Pling-pling. Pling._

In two seconds, he is at the small window, forcing it open and letting the fresh air clean his lungs. It's only after stepping away that he notices.

It isn't raining.

_Pling-pling. Pling._

_Pling-pling. Pling._

_Pling-Pling. PLING._

Mycroft freezes. Swallows nervously. Then shakes his head.

Perfectly ridiculous.

Still, he is going to leave now. He will get Sherlock to find the right box.

He steps backwards slowly, listening carefully. The sound seems to have ceased.

Suddenly his back bumps against a shelf and as he hears a large cloth fall to the floor with a muffled sound, he spins around, startled…

A pair of women's shoes.

A pair of women's _legs_.

The body sways slightly, turning.

A small red drop runs down the nylon.

_Pling-pling._

_Pling._


	14. Seeking Solace

Challenge word: **Seeking Solace**

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Friendship

Characters: Molly and Toby (Her cat. That was on her blog, I think)

* * *

It was the tuna that made Toby think something was wrong.

To be quite precise, the lack of it.

The door of the flat had opened, as usual. Then he had heard the steps retreating to the kitchen and then…silence.

And no smell of tuna at all.

Toby left his scratching post, determined to unravel the mystery.

Molly was sitting at the table and he jumped on it impatiently, raising a paw to pat her shoulder.

_Where's the food?_

He stopped when he saw her glistering eyes.

And after a moment of reconsideration, Toby gently touched the wet skin of her cheek instead.

She looked up in surprise, then a smile blossomed on her face.

_Screw the food_, he thought,_my human needs me._

* * *

_Sorry for any mistakes here. I don't have a cat (sadly)._


	15. Streets

Challenge word: **Streets**

Genre: Friendship/Adventure

Characters: John and Greg

Pairings: Just slight allusions, but you may take it any way you want.

* * *

John feels like London has turned into a maze.

A lantern is burning, dire like the moon, leaving one square meter of pavement a sickly yellow like stale cheese. Not enough for the city that has been.

The streets are paved with bloody diamonds. They glister despite the little light.

Lestrade holds his gun with the determination of a man on a hunt. He catches John's gaze and holds it, eyes hard.

John nods.

Coming from far away riots break the silence.

Loving a stolen angel means you have to forget about "save". He was certain Greg knew that too.

* * *

_Now that has been a long wait, hasn't it? Sorry for that._

_On the upside,__I'm working on a few__very__exciting new projects right now - which is what has kept me busy - so stay tuned!_


	16. Blood

Challenge word: **Blood  
**

Genre: Angst, probably...this one is a bit ambiguous.

Characters: Anthea and Irene

Pairings: However you want to take it.

* * *

_Ice is dead. Not because it's cold, because it's solid. _

She likes fur, like the Snow Queen she is. Anthea visits her sometimes - always business. Though, what does business mean in this strange world?

Irene is taken. Well, Anthea thinks it, piercing cat eyes flashing at her from corners and huffy clicks of heels as she steps into _the_ room once again.

She's never been alone, but that day she is. She looks normal, though the blood is missing from her lips. It's in her eyes instead.

Come in, she says and Anthea feels bad for smiling.


End file.
